The Escape

Five years ago........

Time Travel Research Facility, Tachyon Tech Time Chrono Centre.

"Stand back!" A beautiful young woman with black jet raven hair shouted. She was dressed in a lab coat uniform and was standing near the edge of a huge metal-like structure. It looked like huge square plates joined together in the center forming a pyramid that was placed in a glowing circle towering hundreds of feet above the ground. The platform she stood on was precariously flimsy like that of one of those wooden bridges over a raging waterfall. Behind her and over the edge was a blinding glow that brightened the night sky. Two figures hidden in the dark and standing on a platform move menacingly towards her.

One of the figures on the platform stepped forward into the light, but it was not bright enough to make out its face. One could see that the figure was wearing a strange mask, that was hard to make out in the darkness. However, there was a reflective porcelain-like texture to it. Like a precious Chinese vase. Two horns or maybe it was cat ears stuck at the top of the mask. The masked figure was dressed in an unusual pin-striped coat that had black and white stripes like that of a French mime.

The figure cocked its head slightly and stared straight at the lady. It looked at her through the eyeholes of the mask. There seemed to be a strange, dark emptiness instead of eyes peering through those holes.

"The child...? Where is the child?" The question came from the masked figure in an eerily gargled tone. A tone that made it almost impossible to know whether it was that of a male or female.

The woman stepped back towards the edge. She was not hearing the voice with her ears. She knew that the question was projected into her mind telepathically. Only she could hear the voice coming from the figure. Her head began to throb. The woman looked defiantly back.

"She is not an object! You have no right to use her that way," she shouted non-verbally, sending an equally strong message back with her thoughts.

"A she? Did you give it a name too? What a pity! You have grown fond of her, I see".

"She is just a baby and I won't let you experiment on her any longer. I've sent her away from this timeline. You're never going to find her in the present," the woman said.

Suddenly she felt herself being lifted to the air by an invisible force. She knew however that the one doing this was the figure in front of her. She struggled helplessly against an invisible hand that was holding her by the throat that was slowly moved towards the edge of the platform.

“Don’t lie. I’m losing my patience” the voice said.

“Let me try. We will not get any information from her, if she is just a bloody pulp on the ground,” a hooded behind the other said. The first one nodded, and dropped the woman onto the platform. The woman gave a gasped of air.

“Dolores, please cooperate with us,” the hooded figure said, it’s voice echoing in the woman’s head too.

“Never!” Dolores said.

“Good. I was hoping for a fight,” the hooded figure replied.

It lifted its hand into a clenched fist into the air.

"When and where did you send her? Do we have to pry it out of your mind...piece by piece, nightmare by nightmare?"

Dolores spat at the hooded figure. But it did not reach her, as it was telekinetically stopped.

“Your choice,” it said.

For a second nothing happened. That suddenly Dolores gave a shout! Putting her hands over her ears, she clutched her head and screamed. Her face contorted in pain and sheer agony. The masked figure began to chuckle, as the hooded figure continued to do something to the lady’s mind.

"See? What did I tell you? You had to let it come to this. Don't say I didn't warn you.."

The masked figure crouched and whispered to the woman telepathically.

"Help me to help you," the masked one said.

Suddenly there was the cry of a baby from the other side of the platform.

“The child!” the masked figure said, turning towards the source of the sound.

The hooded figurer turned too, its attention refocused, freeing Dolores from its control. It gave Dolores just enough time to counter attack her assailants. Everything than seemed to move in a slow motion. Using unnatural super strength Dolores yanked the metal railing at the side of the platform apart as though it was a twig and threw it at the two figures. It hit them both squarely on their backs and they were thrown off the edge of the platform.

“That will buy me some time,” Dolores said, knowing her pursuers would not be so easily defeated even though it was a 20 story fall. It was times like these that she was thankful she had super strength. Quickly she ran towards the strange pyramid structure, and then pulled out a metal panel beneath her. Underneath it, the teary blue eyes of a young baby stared at her.

“Shhh, shhh, it’s going to be alright,” she said holding the baby up.

She ran to a strange machine and began keying in some numbers.

“They won’t be able to chase us, if we leave this timeline,” she said.

Suddenly Dolores felt a searing pain in her head. She turned around, and saw that both the hooded and mask figure had return. Using their telekinetic powers, they had levitated themselves back onto the platform avoiding what could have been a fatal fall.

“We will rip you apart! Atom to atom!” the masked figure said, floating in mid-air.

“Too late,” Dolores said, fighting the pain in her head. Using all the strength she had, she forced herself towards the glowing pyramid with the baby. With a bright flash, that shook the entire building, she disappeared with the child.

The pyramid suddenly gave a red glow and began to blink rapidly.

"No! After them!" the masked figure said.

The hooded shook its head.

"The Chrono Chamber is going to explode. We've got to get out of here,"

"But the child!" the masked figure said furiously.

"Don't worry. I managed to pry something out of her head," the hooded figure said levitating above the ground.

"Good. Where are they then?" the mask one said.

"Not where? When," the hooded one replied as they both flew out of the building.

Within minutes the entire facility was consumed in a huge blast that erased any sign of that night's encounter.